Please educate the senior citizens

Recently a newspaper reported that a senior citizen sold his flat and deposited Rs27 lakh in a bank account held jointly by him and his son. Within a week, the son had withdrawn the entire amount without the father’s knowledge. When the father came to know about the withdrawal he was completely broken.

This is not a single case. Now-a-days it has become a trend. Many a time we can get these types of news in the newspaper or from some other media. Some time it happenss with old father, sometime with old mother and sometime with any other old member of family.

Why it happens? It is a big question. But just try to get the answer. There can be many reasons but I think lack of education and experience is the biggest reason behind it. A great percentage of our senior citizen population is illiterate. They can’t read the bank forms and other important documents. So it is very easy to get cheated by someone who is very close and know the processes.

I think in the present time society need to give our senior citizens, a life of dignity in their twilight years. Urbanization, migration, industrialization, women entering in the labor force and many such social changes has steadily chipped away the joint family system. The result is that senior citizens are now forced to face a life of despair and loneliness. There are very few mechanisms to look into the problems of senior citizens.

Now how can we solve this social problem? We can solve this problem by the change in social reality and application of knowledge. Because the root of this problem is lack of education, so we should provide education to this particular social group. Educated senior citizen can deal with the problem in a better way. There is a study called “Gerontology”: the study of late adulthood and older people as a special group, more people should join this course to deal with the problem of senior citizens. And finally the family member of these people must understand that the old person in their home is an asset not liability. The education and the mindset of family member can reduce this problem form the society.